Adolescent Literacy

Questioning the Separation of In-School from Out-of-School Contexts for Literacy Learning: An Interview with Donna Alvermann

by Donna Alvermann

This is an earlier version of a paper co-authored with David W. Moore that has since been published in the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy in October 2011, Volume 55, issue 2, pp. 156-158.

This article challenges the premise that the divide between in- and out-of-school literacy learning is real and, as... more This article challenges the premise that the divide between in- and out-of-school literacy learning is real and, as such, needs bridging. She challenges this divide because she sees educators creating learning conditions, especially with interactive multimodal communication technologies, that cannot be classified according to a particular context. She began questioning this divide while observing young people’s discussions in classrooms and after-school Read and Talk clubs. Educators with this view can tap the potential in youth’s multiple literacies especially as they pertain to motivation, self-efficacy, and engagement. Educational researchers with this view can increase what they say about learning in general. Metaphorically treating context as a sieve, rather than a structured, impermeable container, can open possibilities for questioning the assumption that literacy learning is qualitatively different in different contexts.

"Hunger Games" Worth a Class Discussion

by Donna Alvermann

An op-ed piece published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 19, 2012

...if we were cavemen we'd be fine

by Owen Barden

This is a draft. The final, definitive version is forthcoming via Blackwell Synergy and the UKLA in Literacy: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291741-4369

This article is derived from a study of the use of Facebook as an educational resource by five dyslexic students at a... more This article is derived from a study of the use of Facebook as an educational resource by five dyslexic students at a Sixth Form College in north-west England. Through a project in which teacher-researcher and student-participants co-constructed a group Facebook page about the students’ scaffolded research into dyslexia, the study examined the educational affordances of a digitally-mediated social network. An innovative, flexible, experiential methodology combining action research and case study with an ethnographic approach was devised. This enabled the use of multiple mixed methods, capturing much of the rich complexity of the students’ online and offline interactions with each other and with digital media as they contributed to the group and co-constructed their group Facebook page. Social perspectives on dyslexia (Cooper, 2006; Herrington & Hunter-Carsch, 2001) and multiliteracies (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000; Gee, 1996; Street 1984 & 2003) were used to help interpret the students’ engagement with the social network and thereby deduce its educational potential. The research concludes that as a digitally mediated social network, Facebook engages the students in active, critical learning about and through literacies in a rich and complex semiotic domain (Gee, 2004, 2005 & 2007). Offline dialogue plays a crucial role. This learning is reciprocally shaped by the students' developing identities as both dyslexic students and able learners. The findings suggest that social media can have advantageous applications for literacy learning in the classroom. In prompting learning yet remaining unchanged by it, Facebook can be likened to a catalyst.

The Massey Writing Across the Curriculum Model: A manifesto for the renaissance of an international business school?

by Peter Mellalieu

Mellalieu, P. J. (2007, July 6). The Massey Writing Across the Curriculum Model: A manifesto for the renaissance of an international business school? Peter Mellalieu - Teacher. Retrieved October 11, 2009, from http://preview.tinyurl.com/masseywac

How could the Massey Writing Across the Curriculum model be adapted to the context of a renewing international... more How could the Massey Writing Across the Curriculum model be adapted to the context of a renewing international business school? The Massey model was developed in the context of a research-focussed university science faculty (Emerson, 2004). The Unitec Business School is undergoing pre-revolutionary changes in response to policy changes at the institutional and national educational levels. The business school possesses a cohort of staff with strong capabilities in communications. Furthermore, members of the school hold strong commitments towards developing pedagogies that support learning that is relevant to the real world contexts into which students will graduate. Accordingly, it is possible to devise a manifesto for implementing curriculum development in the Unitec Business School by drawing from the lessons of the Massey Writing Across the Curriculum experience.

Writing to learn argument and persuasion: A'Trojan Horse'for promoting the adoption of'Writing Across the Curriculum'(WAC) principles in an international …

by Peter Mellalieu

Mellalieu, P. J. (2008). Writing to learn argument and persuasion: A “Trojan Horse” for promoting the adoption of “Writing Across the Curriculum” (WAC) principles (Working paper). Auckland, NZ: Unitec New Zealand Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

In response to feedback from employers that was critical of business graduates’ writing capability, the article... more In response to feedback from employers that was critical of business graduates’ writing capability, the article presents the results of a process of continuous innovation that aimed to develop business students' skills in formal writing, especially written persuasive argument. The learning environment created to achieve this task was informed by a selection of the principles and practices of a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) programme implemented in New Zealand (Emerson, 1999, 2002, 2004).


The techniques were deployed within one specific course - organisational behaviour - in a class where students had little affection for formal writing tasks. Furthermore, the institution had no commitment towards implementing a formal WAC programme, and the teacher/researcher had no formal education in language teaching. Consequently, the study presents results of a 'pathfinder' study aimed at probing the extent to which WAC principles might be of value in achieving the learning outcomes sought by the business school.


An orchestrated sequence of interventions included the adoption of five-paragraph essay writing, Halswell’s Minimal Marking (1983), peer critiques, and McAlpine’s Global English (1997) as a style guide. A Small Group Instructional Diagnostic (SGID) conducted at the conclusion of the formal teaching sessions identified the reasons why most students valued the interventions as contributing to important developments in their academic literacy.


Carroll (2005) argues that ‘teachers themselves remain the most significant facilitator of students’ adjustments to studying in English’. Accordingly, the investigation presents practical strategies that can be implemented by a motivated teacher in a variety of courses - irrespective of course content - in a manner which minimises risk to both student and teacher, and do not require extensive language teaching skills on the part of the teacher.

Employing Semiotic Resources as Identifications for Engaging in Science Literacy Practices

by Natasha Rappa

Co-authored with Kok-Sing Tang, Presented at AERA Annual Meeting 2012.

This paper examines the extent and process by which two high school students in a suburban school in Midwestern USA... more This paper examines the extent and process by which two high school students in a suburban school in Midwestern USA identified with the literacy practices of physicists. Of specific interests in this paper are how these students chose to enact their identifications with these practices and how their perception of the literacy practices of the given community extended and/or limited their choices regarding the kind of enactments needed to facilitate their entry into this community. These questions are addressed by employing a semiotic perspective of identification as a function of engaging in literacy practices within the classroom context. The paper discusses the implications for instruction and interactions employing semiotic resources to foster student identification with academic communities of practice.

Twenty-First Century Adolescents, Writing, and New Media: Meeting the Challenge with Game Controllers and Laptops

by Hannah Gerber

English Journal 101 (2) 68-73

This article provides practical suggestions for using video games to engage students in authentic expository,... more This article provides practical suggestions for using video games to engage students in authentic expository, persuasive, and creative writing.

An Interlanguage Perspective on Genre

by Avary Carhill-Poza

Explaining English language proficiency among adolescent immigrant students

by Avary Carhill-Poza

Reading Adolescents' Reading Identities: Looking Back to See Ahead

by Donna Alvermann

Examines the reading identities ascribed to, and taken up by, adolescents who struggle with school literacy tasks.... more Examines the reading identities ascribed to, and taken up by, adolescents who struggle with school literacy tasks. Definition of the terms culture and struggling reader; Assumptions underlying the cultural construction of struggling readers; Approaches to the cultural construction of disability; Presentation of a case study on struggling readers.

I know it's important but is it my responsibility? Embedding literacy strategies across the middle school curriculum

by Grace Oakley

Co-authored with Val Faulkner, Mary Rohl, Elaine Lopes and Alex Solosy
Published in Education 3-13 2012, Vol 40(1)

This article reports a study on the responses of a group of 49 Western Australian middle school teachers to a... more This article reports a study on the responses of a group of 49 Western Australian middle school teachers to a year-long professional learning experience, entitled the Making the Links Project. This project was established to help teachers of various learning areas adapt their practices to significant changes in the educational context. In accordance with imminent changes in the curriculum (the Australian Curriculum) and as a response to a national literacy testing agenda (National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy [NAPLAN]), the teachers concerned have been under new pressure to teach literacy across the curriculum. Furthermore, they are now expected to teach Year 7, taught historically in primary school settings. This article presents a discussion of teachers’ perceptions of their responsibilities in terms of teaching literacy within their learning areas and how these perceptions changed over the course of the professional learning experience. It also discusses teachers’ responses to ‘trying out’ some literacy pedagogies more traditionally used in primary school settings.

If you build it, they will come: A book flood program for struggling readers in an urban high school

by Jeff McQuillan

If You Build It, They Will Come

by Jeff McQuillan

The case of late readers

by Jeff McQuillan

Latino families becoming-literate in Australia: Deleuze, literacy and the politics of immigration

by David R Cole

This article examines qualitative data from a two family case study in New South Wales. Both families are from South... more This article examines qualitative data from a two family case study in New South Wales. Both families are from South America and have recently moved to Australia. This study demonstrates that an understanding of the ways that the families are becoming literate in Australia necessitates moving beyond linguistic analyses of the changes that are occurring. The changes that are addressed constitute a politics of immigration, whereby the internal hopes and desires of the family make up an affective plane that transforms language learning. Such writing exemplifies the use of Deleuzian theory in the analysis of the literacy learning of the families, and shows how this rests on notions of the will to power, affect and the multiple nature of the self. The paper will use Masny’s (2006) multiple literacies theory (MLT) to reconcile the politics of becoming involved with the immigration of the families and variant modes of expression.

The Role of Social Support on Depression and Adjustment Levels of Adolescents Having Broken and Unbroken Families

by Halil Eksi

Figen ELMACI
Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice
6 (2) • May›s / May 2006 • 421-431

In this research, depression and adjustment levels of adolescents between ages 15-
18 in secondary education and... more In this research, depression and adjustment levels of adolescents between ages 15-
18 in secondary education and having both broken and unbroken families were
analyzed in respect of social support and family constitution. The role of family
constitution and social support on depression and adjustment level were investigated.
Instruments were conducted on 203 adolescents selected from secondary schools
in Kocaeli Provincial Centre, 101 of which are from unbroken families and 102
of which are from broken families. Of the students, 104 were male (%51.2) and 99
were female (%48.8). A mean age of the oarticipants was 16.46 years. In the study,
“The Hacettepe Personality Inventory” was used to collect the data about adolescents’
adjustment levels and “The Beck Depression Inventory” was used to collect the data
about their depression levels. The Perceived Social Support Scale was used to collect
the data on students’ perception of social support and personal information form was
used to determine family constitutions. It was found that the perception of social
support and family constitution considered to be influential on depression and the
adjustment levels of adolescents from broken and unbroken families composed a
significant diversity between groups. As to this finding, it was observed that the adolescents
from unbroken families are more adaptable in respect of their personal and
social adjustment levels than the students from broken families. It was also determined
that perceived social suppport has a significant effect on depression and adjustment
levels. It was stated that as social support increases, the adjustment level increases
likewise and depression levels decreases; the adjustment level has a linear
correlation with social support contrarily an inverse correlation with depression.

Teacher learning for new times: Repurposing new multimodal literacies and digital- video composing for schools.

by Suzanne Miller

Miller, S. M. (2008).  Teacher learning for new times: Repurposing new multimodal literacies and digital- video composing for schools. In J. Flood, S.B. Heath, D. Lapp (Eds.) Handbook of research on teaching literacy through the communicative and visual arts, pp. 441-460, Volume II. New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates and the International Reading Association.

This chapter discusses next what research suggests about professional development aimed at transforming teachers’... more This chapter discusses next what research suggests about professional development aimed at transforming teachers’ classroom uses of new multimodal literacies. I argue here that digital-video (DV) composing is a quintessential multimodal literacy that can play a key role in those professional experiences and have positive influences on students and classrooms. The term DV composing aims to conceptualize and emphasize the knowledge-assembling and communicative functions of this multimodal literacy practice.
The following first reviews the work on teacher professional development for integrating new literacies into the curriculum and then focuses on what research says about what does not work and what seems to be promising. In the remainder of the article, teacher professional development for learning to integrate DV composing into the curriculum as a new multimodal literacy practice is reviewed, followed by an overview of a growing body of work situated in a DV composing program that examines both teacher learning and subsequent changes in student engagement, learning, and school performance.

Towards a multimodal literacy pedagogy: Digital video composing as 21st century literacy

by Suzanne Miller

Miller, S.M. (2010). Towards a multimodal literacy pedagogy: Digital video composing as 21st  century literacy, pp. 254-281. In P. Albers & J. Sanders (Eds.) Literacies, Art, and Multimodality. Urbana-Champaign, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

In new times of digitally accessible multimodality for designing texts for social purposes, changes are needed in... more In new times of digitally accessible multimodality for designing texts for social purposes, changes are needed in schools.  Scholars examining these trends in research have reached a clear consensus: facility with interpreting and designing multimodal texts will increasingly be required by human beings to communicate, work, and thrive in the digital, global world of the 21st century. In this article I propose a framework and a method for drawing on these new social practices and developing performance knowledge for learning in schools. In a long-term project professional development a multimodal composing project provided point-of-need support for English teachers in workshops and in their classrooms to help them expand their beliefs about literacy and critically reframe their pedagogical practices. The focus on digital video composing provides teachers and students with multimodal learning in an authentic, high-status, social and media practice with powerful attention-getting qualities and expert models in the real world. Analysis of teachers successfully integrating DV composing for students in their classrooms revealed four principles representing the key changes needed for teachers to transform the teaching and learning in their classrooms towards multimodal composing.  The components that provide teachers direction toward this reframing include: (1) providing explicit multimodal design instruction and attention; (2) co-constructing authentic purposes for representing multimodal meaning for an audience; (3) designing multimodal composing activities that invite students to draw on their identity lifeworlds as resources; and (4) creating functional social spaces for mediating multimodal learning.

Complicating "achievement" in adolescent literacy: Exploring patterns among and differences between higher and lower achieving adolescent readers

by Natasha Rappa

Co-authored with Darin Stockdill, Julie E. Learned, Emily Rainey, Michelle Nguyen, Elizabeth Birr Moje. (2011, December). Adolescent Literacy, Achievement, and Identity: Looking Beyond Scores and Labels. Symposium conducted at at Literacy Research Association Conference, Jacksonville, Florida, Draft only.

In this paper we use complementary methods to analyze data collected during the last two years of a four year... more In this paper we use complementary methods to analyze data collected during the last two years of a four year longitudinal study of adolescent literacy among 6th-through 12th-grade youth. Using a two-step cluster analysis, we established two clusters of students, one with higher achievement (N=302) and one with lower achievement (N=269) based on grade point average and a reading diagnostic score. Using the clusters as a grouping variable, we carried out analyses of variance to explore differences across a range of survey and reading measures. We also analyzed interview data from a sub-sample across the two clusters (N=30) using Constant Comparative Analysis.

We found that students in the higher achieving cluster appeared to value reading both in and out of school; to see themselves as readers and, notably, as good readers; and to choose texts that were linguistically, discursively, and conceptually complex. In addition, their talk about text suggested that their reasons for reading revolved around concepts and experiences somewhat removed from their everyday lives, whereas youth in the lower achieving clusters named purposes for reading that were more functional and immediate in orientation and with which they could personally identify. Most important, students in the higher achieving cluster were able to read multiple texts with a sense of agency and purpose, whereas youth in the lower achieving cluster read only the texts of their choosing with agency.

Review of Christie & Derewianka (2008) School Discourse: Learning to write across the years of schooling

by Devo Yilmaz Devrim